JPH09115012A - Taxi meter with GPS and its operating method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Make sure that a taxi arrives at the designated place of the passenger who wants to pick up without impairing the business opportunity for the passenger who wants to get on the street. [Configuration] The basic taxi meter unit 1, the intercepting vehicle control unit 7, and the communication function 18 'are used, and the taxi meter exchanges information with other taxi meters at any time by using the communication function, so that a plurality of taxis can be provided to the passengers who request the interception. While comparing and determining the priority of the right to pick up each other and displaying "empty car", head to the designated place for the pick up. It has an arithmetic function for guiding the course of each taxi according to the priority of the taxi. By driving with an "empty" display, multiple taxis will be able to reach the designated destination without failing to impair business opportunities for street passengers.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a GPS taxi meter and its operating method, and more particularly to a GPS taxi meter corresponding to an oncoming vehicle and its operating method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The function of a taxi is to obtain a proper fare by carrying a taxi to a desired destination in response to a request from a passenger who wants to board. For example, you can stand by at a taxi stand installed at a station to obtain passengers who want to board, or if you see a passenger who wants to board at a street corner while running with a vacant car displayed (hereinafter called "driving operation") Acquire desired customers. FIG. 3 shows a conventional example of a taxi meter installed in a taxi. The basic taxi meter unit 1 includes a fare calculation unit 2 that calculates a fare using a mileage and an elapsed time, a fare display unit 3 that displays a calculated fare, and a state selection switch 4 that is selected according to a situation of a taxi driver. It is composed of a status display unit 5 that displays status corresponding to the selection.
Although not shown in the drawing, the same status display section is generally installed at the position of the windshield visible to people outside the vehicle. From the standpoint of profit management, it is useless to drive a taxi when it is empty, so we would like to make it as rented as possible. For this purpose, there is a dispatch center that connects empty taxis to customers. Customers who wish to take a taxi make a reservation by telephone at the dispatch center, and the dispatch center wirelessly informs each taxi of the passenger information. Each taxi judges from its experience the relative position of its own position, the relative position of the designated place to pick up and the congestion situation of the road, and if it judges that it is suitable for picking up, it wirelessly informs the dispatch center of the hope of picking up. If the taxi is approved by the contact with the dispatch center, the corresponding taxi selects the intercept switch 6 to switch to the intercept display and goes to the designated place. Communication function for communication with dispatch center 18
Do with. When putting emphasis on profit management, the current situation is to improve efficiency by targeting rented taxis, which are on the verge of empty cars, even if they are not empty cars. The taxi authorized to pick up the car while renting will immediately switch to the pick-up display and head to the designated place immediately after sending the passengers who are currently supported to the destination. However, if there are too many allocations from the dispatch center, the response to passengers who are looking for a free-running empty taxi will deteriorate. The cause of this problem is that once a taxi (Taxi A) accepts a reserved customer, it has to head to the designated place as a pick-up state. If taxi A finds a taxi for the reserved customer at the time when another passenger gets on the way, it will force the reserved customer to wait a considerable amount of time. In the past, the operation of the above taxis and taximeters was carried out by human judgment by the driver or the operator of the dispatch center. The taxi driver is familiar with information such as roads and street addresses in the business area and major facilities, and selects a driving route while predicting the time zone and road congestion. In sink driving, we grasp the area where it is easy to acquire customers by experience and focus on that point and run,
When waiting for a vehicle, you may wait in an area where it is likely that you will want to receive the vehicle. Since such behaviors differ in knowledge and experience, veteran taxi drivers were required for efficient operation. The operator of the dispatch center also needed experience. Actually, there aren't all veteran taxi drivers.
A taxi meter with GPS indicated by 1563 will appear. By using GPS (abbreviation of Global Positioning System) to record the position and running trajectory of the taxi meter together with the state of the taxi meter and analyze the recorded results, it is possible to obtain the same or better performance as a veteran taxi driver. In some cases, operation management can be performed.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, a taxi can earn a fare only when it is in a rented state, and in other states, it generally costs only the cost of consuming gasoline. From the viewpoint of efficient operation, we would like to keep wages as much as possible. It should be noted that although there is a case where a driver's fee is charged, it is general that the fee acquisition efficiency is lower than that in the rented state. From the viewpoint of the relationship between supply and demand for taxis, if the number of taxis is reduced, the ratio of rent status increases and efficient operation is achieved. However, as the number of taxis decreases, the probability that passengers wishing to board an empty taxi will decrease. Correspondence to the request for a vehicle will also deteriorate, resulting in an increase in taxi waiting time. For society, taxis may serve as a means of transportation, for example for the elderly and people with limited mobility, or as an important mode of transportation in areas where other public vehicles such as trains and buses cannot handle. Considering the above, we must refrain from drastically reducing the number of empty taxis by prioritizing only the efficiency of taxi operations. In addition, the fact that the number of vacant taxis decreases and the waiting time for waiting for a taxi becomes longer causes a taxi departure of customers from a long-term perspective. The taxi had the problem of having to secure empty taxis to some extent without degrading the operating efficiency.

[0004]

In a taxi meter having a GPS receiver and a communication function according to the present invention and a method of operating the taxi meter, the taxi meter has a function of exchanging information with another taxi meter at any time, or the right to pick up a vehicle. Or having a calculation function for comparing and determining the priority of the taxi with other taximeters, or having a calculation function for guiding a taxi course according to the intercepting vehicle priority,
Or, it has a function to control the status display of taxis according to the number of guided taxis, or the status display of taxis when the guided taxi approaches within a certain distance from the guiding destination. Operation of GPS taxi meter characterized by having control function, or operation of GPS taxi meter characterized by exchanging information between at least mutual taxi positions, states and driver's intention information Method.

[0005]

[Function] Since information about the status of each taxi is exchanged and a plurality of taxis head to the designated place for each passenger, each taxi displays an empty car and responds to a passenger who wants to get on the street. This will expand business opportunities and ensure that taxis can arrive at the designated destination.

[0006]

EXAMPLE An example of a taxi meter with GPS according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The GPS taxi meter of the present invention is composed of a basic taxi meter unit 1, an intercepting vehicle control unit 7, and a communication function 18 '. Communication function 1
As will be described later, 8 ′ also has a role different from the communication function 18 of FIG. 3 shown in the conventional example. The basic taxi meter unit 1 is composed of a fare calculation unit 2, a fare display unit 3, a forced state selection switch 4 ', and a state display unit 5. State compulsory selection switch 4'is for rent, empty car,
The switch is for selecting each state of the intercepting vehicle and the forwarding. Regarding the selection of the intercepting vehicle and the empty vehicle, a command from the intercepting vehicle control unit 7 normally controls the selection as described later. As an exceptional choice, a compulsory intercept switch 6'is provided. The function will be described in the detailed description of the interceptor control unit.
The status display section organizes the information from the interceptor control section and the information from the status compulsory selection switch to display the current status. The interceptor control unit manages the information received by the communication requesting person 18 'from the requesting passengers to promptly direct the taxi to the designated place of the requesting passengers while maintaining each taxi in an empty state (running operation state). Has a function. FIG. 1 shows an example in which each taxi can handle three passengers wishing to pick up. This taxi displays the information regarding the passenger's desire to pick up the vehicle, which is assigned to the in-house code "135" of this taxi company, as the first pick-up vehicle 8. The recognition code is displayed on the intercepting vehicle recognition code display section 9. The passengers who want to pick up the vehicle, which are displayed in the first choice 8 of the vehicle, are selected from taxis that can reach the designated place within 15 minutes.
The estimated time to reach the designated place is displayed on the estimated time display unit 10 until the designated place is reached. The estimated time is calculated from the current position, road conditions, and traffic congestion prediction information recognized from information from a GPS receiver (not shown) included in each taxi. A taxi that is currently in a rented state will be considered as a taxi if the total time required to reach the designated place after arriving at the destination is within the standard. Various evaluation weighting calculations are further performed on the estimated time, and the intercepting vehicle priority order is displayed on the intercepting vehicle priority order display unit 11. Various weighting operations are used to reduce the weight (decrease the priority) or to change the geography of the specified area when the taxi is about to change driver or the driver's health is not good. A detailed taxi is to add weight. For example, as for the health condition, the daily health checkup data is used as a database, or the current pulse rate is measured by the communication function 18 'to be used as a criterion. The taxi driver selects the desired strength for pick-up and drop-off by using the pick-up and drop-off request selection switch 12 with reference to the priority order of the intercepting vehicle and the estimated time displayed by the weighting calculation. FIG.
In the example above, "(strong)" is selected when strongly requesting a pick-up, "(weak)" is passive, but if you want to select it once, "(weak)" is selected, and if you have no intention of responding at all, "( Select “Release)”. Although illustrated as a push button switch in the example of FIG. 1, it may be a volume switch that can continuously change the degree of intention as a selection switch corresponding to a vague intention of a person. In the example of FIG. 1, the estimated time is as short as 3 minutes, and the guidance is performed in consideration of the course taking that is easy to shift.
In this embodiment, the basic taximeter unit 1 and the communication function 1
8'and the interceptor control unit 7 are housed in separate containers and connected to each other by signal lines. This example considers placing the three vessels in their respective optimum positions. The basic taxi meter section is clearly visible to the customer, the communication function is in the trunk room, and the intercepting vehicle control section displays the personal information and in-house operation know-how of the passenger who wants to intercept the vehicle. In some cases, the unit of each unit is set so that the minimum reinvestment of equipment is required if the timing of updating each device is different. In some cases, it is integrated to save space.

The operation method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The time changes of the states of the taxis labeled taxis A, B, and C are shown in (a), (i), and (u) of FIG. The state of FIG. 2A is the state at time 1. The status of each taxi is shown in the table. The table shows the designated place 1
Priority of each taxi (displayed as "rank"), expected arrival time (displayed as "time"), status (displayed as "status"), status display of each taxi (displayed as "display")
"), The degree to which each taxi wishes to pick up (indicated as" hope "), and special notes about incidents related to each taxi are described in the" Remarks "column. At time 1, taxi A has the first priority. At this time, the taxi A does not know the existence of the street passenger 20 waiting for the taxi on the street. Each taxi heads to the designated stop 19 while displaying "empty car".

At time 2 depicted in FIG. 2B, the taxi A encounters the street customer 20 and serves as a customer. At this time, the taxi A is displayed as "rental drive" by operating the taxi driver's state forced selection switch, and the state of the taxi A is "released" and "none" as desired according to the judgment of the control section. The state of each taxi is also as shown in the table according to the judgment of the control section.

At time 3 drawn in FIG. 2 (u), the taxi B arrives at the designated place, and the states of the taxis are as shown in the table. Actually, at this time point, the second choice of the vehicle for each taxi is upgraded to the first choice, and the same operation as the series of operations in FIG. 2 is repeated.

When a plurality of taxis are heading to one designated place as in the state of FIG. 2, even if each taxi is driving with an "empty" display, the taxis of each other are compensating each other, which is a serious problem. Does not occur. However, if there is only one taxi applicable to the vehicle, that one must take the responsibility to the designated place. In this case, the controller makes a judgment to change the status display to "coming on". Also,
In the situation where the designated place is very close, the passengers who wish to pick up should be given priority. In this case, the control section switches from the "empty vehicle" display to the "coming vehicle" display according to the designated place distance. If you want to concentrate on the vehicle at the driver's discretion, see Figure 1.
By selecting the compulsory oncoming vehicle switch 6 ', the "oncoming vehicle" is displayed.

In the operating method of the present invention, guidance is performed according to each situation of a plurality of taxis. For a taxi with a low priority for a vehicle to be picked up, the course is guided to pass through an area (bar area) where there is a high probability of meeting street customers. By selecting a switch (not shown in the figure) indicating the lane, a taxi specializing in street passengers is guided to a course with a high probability of encountering street passengers. In addition, if the desire of the driving area is also specified in detail, the intercepting vehicle control unit may guide the course by determining the course from the analysis results of past data and the like. It is empirically known that if a car is driven by a rotary on the north side of a station, the probability of encountering a customer whose destination is in the north direction is higher than that of the station, and that of the south direction is higher in the south side. Such data is digitized and held as a calculation target.

[0012]

According to the taxi meter with GPS and the method of operating the same of the present invention, when each taxi displays a vacant car and encounters a passenger who wants to get on the street, it provides a business opportunity by responding to the passenger. The taxi can reach the designated place without fail while expanding. Since the course is guided according to the order of the driver, business opportunities for street customers will be further expanded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a basic taxi meter unit, 2 is a fare calculation unit, 3 is a fare display unit, 4 is a selection switch, 4'is a status forced selection switch, 5 is a status display unit, 6 is an intercepting switch, 6'is a compulsory intercepting switch, 7 is an interceptor control unit, 8 is an interceptor first selection, 9 is an interceptor recognition code display unit, 10 is an estimated time to a designated place, 11 is an interceptor priority display unit, 12 is a pick-up request selection switch, and 13 is an interceptor-compatible state Display unit, 14 is the display of the desired total number of vehicles, 15 is a guide display unit, 16 is the second selection of the vehicle, 17 is the third selection of the vehicle, 18 and 18 'are communication functions, 19
Is a designated place for pick-up and 20 is a street passenger.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A taxi meter having a GPS receiver and a communication function, wherein the taxi meter has a function of exchanging information with another taxi meter at any time.
Taxi meter with S. 2. The taxi meter with GPS according to claim 1, further comprising an arithmetic function for comparing and determining the priority order for the right to intercept the vehicle with another taxi meter.
Taxi meter with S. 3. The taxi meter with GPS according to claim 2, further comprising a calculation function for guiding a taxi course according to the priority order of the intercepting vehicle. 4. The taxi meter with GPS according to claim 3, which has a function of controlling the status display of taxis according to the number of taxis being guided.
Taxi meter with S. 5. The taxi meter with GPS according to claim 4, wherein the taxi meter with GPS has a function of changing the status display of the taxi to "empty" according to the number of taxis being guided. 6. The GPS taxi meter according to claim 3, further comprising a function of controlling a status display of the taxi when the taxi being guided approaches within a certain distance from the guidance destination. Taxi meter with. 7. The taxi meter with GPS according to claim 1, wherein at least mutual taxi position, status, and driver's intention information are exchanged with each other for arithmetic processing. Operating method.